Basic Black Pants: I Had to Buy Them

My current contact has me in a relatively corporate environment. I can’t wear denim except on Fridays. It’s been a decade since I’ve had to dress for a business casual environment.

I did spend two years working in corporate communication and the company had a strict dress code: No trousers without a matching or coordinating jacket and skirts with a nice top or sweater. Since I worked in marketing, all of us ended up following the vice president of the department and wore skirt and pant suits.

Since then I’ve worked online and that usually meant jeans. If you dressed up you were asked if you were going to an interview. (No, just fed up of wearing jeans all the time!) Now since I work at home, I dress but am obviously not in business casual.

I also don’t wear black pants. I know they’re a basic – every single style book in existence insists that you have to have a pair – but I find pants difficult to fit and I prefer how I look in skirts and dresses. They’re not a basic for me. I even wear skirt suits when I interview.

However, since I didn’t want to wear the same skirts over and over  – and the more decorous skirts since some of my outfits are more cocktail in nature – I decided to compromise and get these skinnies from the Gap. That way I can tuck them into my boots, throw on a top (Not allowed to wear t-shirts) and finish it off with a jacket for an odd, slightly preppy, conservative look.

I know, I know – I’m supposed to cut back on shopping – but I looked at my closet and I don’t have pants I could wear to work.  (Justification, you think?) I did try on a leather pair but didn’t buy them.

I can’t believe it took me this long to get a pair of black pants. Am I the only one who doesn’t consider black pants a basic?